


Morning of

by cake_horse



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-25
Updated: 2013-11-25
Packaged: 2018-01-02 14:53:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1058096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cake_horse/pseuds/cake_horse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Longbottoms, 1 November, 1981</p>
            </blockquote>





	Morning of

Alice's cousin Nora is their Secret Keeper, so it's a shock to Frank to see his mother making her way up the garden path. The hem of her robe brushes the fallen leaves out of her way. It is mid-morning on the first of November, but the only indication of the previous night's Hallowe'en celebrations in the house is the small pumpkin left forgotten on the kitchen table. Frank had planned to carve it the previous afternoon, but Neville had been distracted by the music Alice had put on, and the three of them ended up dancing instead.

(Their wireless set is old and just a Muggle radio, but they had finally found a station that played the kind of music they liked. Frank has never had the slightest sense of rhythm, but that has never deterred him from dancing. Neville giggles when he tosses him up in the air. "We have to enjoy it while we can," Alice had said. She has about as much grace as Frank, but that doesn't stop her from dancing either. "We'll start embarrassing him in a few years."

Alice is always so sure they will be out of this house soon, and Frank envies that.)

"Al," he calls, not moving from the window, "Alice!"

His wife comes out of the bedroom, their son on her hip.

Frank opens the door at the sound of a knock, wand in hand. "Mother," he says cautiously.

"Yes, yes," she says dismissively, "it's your mother, Augusta Longbottom. I spent my first wedding anniversary chasing bats out of the house after your father left the windows open overnight. Is that to your satisfaction?"

Frank sighs a little, but he smiles as he lets her in.

"Nora gave me your location. She would have come herself, but she was called in to work," Augusta says. She is taking in her surroundings. The house where Frank and Alice have been living is tiny, and there are toys and books strewn everywhere. Alice's blouse is rumpled, and Frank has a stain on his jumper from yesterday's breakfast. They hadn't been expecting company.

(Frank is used to his mother criticising his untidiness, even now, when he is a grown man with a family of his own. He waits for a rebuke, or even a comment, but it doesn't come.)

"Is there a situation?" Alice asks. Frank knows what she is thinking, because his mind has gone to the same place. The last thing they want to do is leave Neville, but the walls of the house close in at night, and they haven't been past the front gate in months, and returning to active duty is a thought that rarely leaves either of their minds.

"Hm? No," Augusta says. She's got Neville's attention, and Alice hands him over to her. Neville has been surprisingly agreeable this morning and doesn't make a fuss.

Augusta kisses her grandson's forehead and then looks at Frank and Alice with a smile.

"It's over," she says.

For a moment, neither of them can comprehend her words. But then, Frank sinks down onto their lumpy little sofa, and Alice soon follows.

"The Potters…" Augusta begins.

"Oh, Merlin," Alice murmurs.

(They were so young. So very young. Their own son was Neville's age, but they were practically fresh out of school.)

Frank's hand finds his wife's.

 

 

There's a chill in the air when they leave the house, but it's refreshing. Alice is the one to open the gate, because Neville is now in Frank's arms.

"It's a new day, kiddo," Frank says. "Everything is going to be all right."


End file.
